To reduce a fraction to the lowest terms equivalent: divide the numerator and denominator by their greatest common factor, GCF
To calculate the greatest common factor, GCF:
- 1. Factor the numerator and the denominator (into prime factors), build their prime factorizations.
- 2. Multiply all their common prime factors, taken by the lowest exponents.
1. Factor the numerator and the denominator:
To factor a number (into prime factors) - or, in other words, to break it down to prime factors - or, in other words, to build its prime factorization: find the prime numbers that multiply together to get that number.
The prime factorizations:
42,852,858 = 2 × 3 × 107 × 66,749
42,852,858 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
119,988,000 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 11 × 101 = 25 × 33 × 53 × 11 × 101
119,988,000 is a composite number.
42,852,858/119,988,000 =
(42,852,858 ÷ 6) / (119,988,000 ÷ 6) =
7,142,143/19,998,000
Yet another method to reduce the fraction
To reduce a fraction without calculating the GCF: factor its numerator and denominator, then all the common prime factors are easily identified and crossed out.
42,852,858/119,988,000 =
(2 × 3 × 107 × 66,749)/(25 × 33 × 53 × 11 × 101) =
((2 × 3 × 107 × 66,749) ÷ (2 × 3)) / ((25 × 33 × 53 × 11 × 101) ÷ (2 × 3)) =
(107 × 66,749)/(24 × 32 × 53 × 11 × 101) =
7,142,143/19,998,000
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
7,142,143/19,998,000 =
7,142,143 ÷ 19,998,000 =
0.357142864286 ≈
0.36